Progress

Yahoo News: Afghans seek harmony with new national anthem:

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan is looking for a new national anthem that the government hopes will bring harmony to the country after nearly three decades of conflict.

A panel of poets, writers and musicians tasked with writing a new anthem after seeking the views of all ethnic groups released a draft this week for public comment.

The current anthem -- a jaunty, martial tune -- is sung in Dari, the language of the Tajiks who made up the bulk of the Mujahideen government that came to power after the fall of the Moscow-backed regime in 1992.

But many Afghans feel the lyrics -- which praise the Mujahideen for defeating the Soviet Red Army -- are now outdated, and they want something more broadly nationalistic that would bring together the country's varied ethnic groups.

Afghanistan had no national anthem from 1996 to 2001 under the Taliban, who banned all forms of music as un-Islamic.